29 July 2010

Peter has never forgotten
the immense support that
so many friends gave him
in the months and years after
his December 1982 car crash.
Though now registered blind
and therefore unable,
amongst other things,
to join the Army,
he has been able to enjoy
a successful career
focused on helping others.From the Durham University Alumni newsletter, 25th June 2010. Submitted by Marika Rose.

27 July 2010

The Board is mindful
of the guidelines produced
by the Association of British Insurers
and the attention being given
to CSR issues
by investors and wider stakeholder communities.
The Board acknowledges
the commercial and ethical importance
of the development and maintenance
of a culture of continuous improvement
in CSR matters
as far as they are relevant to the Group's activities
and accepts that
the implementation of a system
for measuring and reporting
on key CSR indicators
may, over time, be appropriate.Taken from Harvard International’s statement on Corporate Responsibility, 28th June 2010. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.

06 July 2010

And then you're in an operating room,
Staring deep
Into a stellate smash of livid liver.

It oozes discontinuous destruction.
Fragments of hepatic mush are strewn
And coddled among clots of blood,
Stained with bile and mixed with stool.
The beauty of the enzyme pathways is nowhere to be seen;

Dr. Krebs is not in the building.
Weak indeed is the capsule holding it all in,
split apart like broiled bratwurst.
How little it takes!

05 July 2010

Considerate
As far as possible, works are to be carried out in such a way that
noise and
dust are
kept to a minimum,
and at times which will minimise the effect on
city workers,
residents and
visitors.

Clean
Footways and carriageways affected by works are to be kept in a
tidy and
safe condition.
Hoardings, scaffolds, warning lights and other features are to be
kept
clean and
neat.

Care
All work will be carried out safely and in such a way that it will
not inconvenience
pedestrians or
other road users.
Special care will be taken to make sure that
pedestrians with sight,
hearing or
mobility difficulties are not inconvenienced or endangered
and that access is maintained for those
in wheelchairs or
pushing prams.

Co-operative
The main contractor is to ensure that
subcontractors,
suppliers and
others working on, or near the site,
maintain the standards of the Code of Practice.By Huw, taken from a building site hoarding in Tower Hamlets, London, on the 5th June 2010.

I am not sure why this summer seems so vivid,
with each day somehow more beautiful than the last.
I only know that is the way it feels. The days
are moving as if each hour is two, and every
detail – a salad, a bunch of sweet peas or box
of tiny broad beans – is somehow more rich than it
would normally be. It is as if the colours,
sounds and scents of summer have been turned up a notch.

Tiny broad beans so tender you could eat them pod
and all; sweet little peas (they love a drop of good
steady rain) and lettuces that have benefited
from the cooler mornings and evenings. I made a
bean sauce this week with a base of crisp purple
and white spring onions, broad beans and tarragon. I
gave it a backbone of cubed unsmoked bacon and
bound it with a little cream. I skinned the larger beans
but left the real babies in their paper-thin skins.

The early peaches are at last arriving from
France and Italy. I wait all spring for these fruits
with their rose-scented juice. It is rare to find them
perfectly ripe in the shops, so I make sure I
buy them a couple of days before I need them.
The old trick of putting them in a paper bag
with a ripe banana to speed up their ripening
works well, but they do very nicely just left out
for a day or two. But there is no need to squeeze
and prod. An unripe peach has virtually no smell;
a ripe one will tell you it is ready to eat.

From Nigel Slater's column in the Observer, 4 July 2010. The opening paragraph was perfectly dodecasyllabic (breaking into 12 syllable lines) so 'sort of' was removed from line 13 and 'I find' from line 25 to maintain the pattern. Submitted by Gabriel Smy.

01 July 2010

I will reach in gently and caress the liver,
the stomach and spleen.
Slide over the top,
into the recesses,
curl the fingers enough to sense the texture,
the fullness.
The bowels move away and under,
and over the top as I direct my hand.
I can describe your kidneys now,
I’ve circled the top of your rectum,
held your uterus,
measured your ovaries between my fingers.
Part of you is gone at the moment,
but I’m here,
I know you now.
You trusted and let me in,
you opened your belly to me,
and I entered with force.
I’ll stay until it’s right.
It’s what I must do.
You think you’ll never touch me so
intimately as I’ve touched you.
But you have.
You have.From a Surgeonsblog post published 7th October, 2006. Submitted by Marika Rose.